Jackie Hoag, 1988.
Born Violet Margaret Jackson on September 11, 1911, in Manitoba, Jackie Hoag moved in 1938 to the Regina office of Ducks Unlimited. In 1939 she married Dr. John Hoag, a dentist; they had three children. During the war she worked with Women’s Voluntary Services and then chaired the Regina War Brides’ Committee. Involved with the Local Council of Women, she chaired its housing committee. Her interest in mid-century housing problems led to extensive involvements. She became the first woman in Canada to chair (for over a decade) a city planning commission, spearheading drives for low-rental housing and senior citizens housing facilities, serving on the Regina local housing authority, heading Pioneer Village Corporation, and being vice-chair of the provincial zoning appeal board. In 1966 Hoag was appointed to the Canadian Housing Design Council. Her other concerns included mental health issues and education of the mentally retarded. In the 1950s she chaired the Standing Committee on Migration and Citizenship of the National Council of Women of Canada. In 1958 supporters urged her to seek a mayoralty nomination. She was unsuccessful, but her effort garnered national attention because of her prominence. In 1967 she became the first woman councillor since 1955, but resigned to run (unsuccessfully) for mayor. Hoag founded Old Fashion Foods in 1965, and she received the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 1988. She died on November 6, 2000, in Regina.
Ann Leger-Anderson